Dragons and Thieves: Nightingale
by Johnny Tracker
Summary: Sequel to Causing Ripples. When Juli comes down with a cold, it's Bobby to the rescue, or so he thinks.


Nightingale  
  
This is a work of fiction set in the What If? Universe. The characters of Bobby, Madeline and William Drake are loosely based on the characters in X- Men comics. We make no money off of these characters and do not claim them as our own. Sarah Drake belongs to Johnny Tracker. Juli and her family and associates belong belong to PsiWolf. Do not archive or post this story without permission from us. Feedback, comments, and suggestions greatly appreciated. Email us at Johnny Tracker(agent0021@hotmail.com) and PsiWolf(psiwolf@aol.com).  
  
Nightingale  
  
Bobby Drake heads down the hall, a little groggy but it's a Saturday so he's excused. He's gotten out of the shower and dressed, his brown hair still drying out. He knocks on the door to the guest room, where his sweetheart Juli sleeps. "Is my 'Cajun cutie' decent so that I may greet her properly?" he asks in his "regal" voice.  
  
Juli groaned slightly buried her head under the pillow. At Bobby's second knock, she sat up and held her head. As she sat up her head spun. {Great..I'm sick.} She slowly got out of bed and slapped her face gently. Her Saints jersey came to mid-thigh and she pulled on a pair of jeans. She walked to the door and opened it a smile on her face. "Dis decent enuff for ya?"  
  
He grins, "A little too decent but.." He dodges a playful smeck to the shoulder. "Ok, ok, I keep my hormones to myself. You look great, a little sleepy, but great." He smiles. He's always like the way Juli dresses, casual and free, much like him when he doesn't have to wear the overalls he wears for construction.  
  
"You de one you father should be worryin about.. not me. An maybe dats cause ya jus woke me up dat I look sleepy. Sarah say de one job don need me today so I got de day off." {An all I wanna do is go ta sleep}  
  
"He always worries about me, says I'm too 'rambungcious' for my own good. And I probably should have let you sleep in, but I wasn't aware you had the day off. Care to join me for some breakfast?" He extends his shoulder like a gentlemanly escort would.  
  
Juli took the arm grateful for it. As it was her knees were ready to buckle, but she hated feeling weak. Bobby's arm gave her the strength to walk normally. "Food sound good." {Ugh..} "You father jus don want ya hurt. De day off was a last minute thin. Looks like I'll be doin framin an paintin. I'm not questioning it."  
  
Madeline smiled as the two came down. She looked closer at Juli as she sat down. "You feel ok? You look a little pale. Then again.. it's hard to tell with your tan.."  
  
"I'm fine Madame. Jus been workin a lot is all." {Liar..}  
  
"That," Bobby squeeze her shoulder gently "and yours truly woke her up." He heads over and helps his mom with breakfast.  
  
Juli weakly smiled and hid behind her long hair. She pretended she was just tired, but truth was she felt horrible. A headache was starting as well. A precursor to a migraine. Madeline and Bobby set the food down. bacon, eggs, pancakes. Normally she would have eaten everything. This morning though, she simply looked at it then tipped the chair backwards running to the bathroom. she made it just in time, but barely.  
  
Bobby stands there stunned for a moment and then follows her only to see the bathroom door slammed shut seconds before he gets there. "Juli?" Her answer is the sound of her retching. "Oh, come on. My cooking ain't that bad." His jokes getting the same answer as before.  
  
Now Bobby begins to worry. "Juli? Are you all right?"  
  
It was at least 10 minutes before her stomach stopped rebelling. It felt like hours. She groaned and sat back with her face against the cool tile wall. She was really bad and she knew it.. there was no way to lie about this.  
  
"I'm.. sick.. dunno..whats wrong. Gettin a migraine.." A thump is heard as Juli mercifully passes out  
  
He jumps slightly at the thump he hears. "Juli!?" He twists the doorknob and finds it isn't locked, and opens it to find Juli half-sprawled on the floor. "Come on love, up we go" he says as he lifts her into his arms. He snatches a washcloth on his way out and carries her back to her room. He cleans her up a little after laying her in her bed. {Man. And I thought it bites when I get sick}  
  
Juli groaned and her stomach jumped at the movements. She was grateful to be in bed, but knew that the relief would be short. Weakly she grabbed at Bobby's shirt not opening her eyes. "Bobby.. gonna.. gonna be sick.." Bobby grabbed a waste basket and got it to the side of the bed barely in time. Juli's whole body shook slightly with the effort. Afterwards mercifully, she passed out.  
  
Bobby watched her in a mixture of shock and horror at the pain her sickness is causing her. He moves her back onto her bed, brushing her hair from her face. "It's gonna be ok, I'm gonna be here if you need me." He moves the basket to a stool near the bed so she can reach it and has to force himself to leave her side to get some anti-acids.  
  
While Bobby left, she groaned. She hated being sick. When she got sick it was pretty bad. She could feel herself being irritable already and Bobby was being so nice. He came back in and she shoved the glass of water that he offered away. He bought it to her again and she shoved his hand away. "Anythin I take gonna come up. So don bother." Her voice was groggy and laced with discomfort. Madeline came up and looked at Bobby and Juli who was in a fetal position shivering.  
  
"Looks like she caught the flu."  
  
"Fairly obvious mom, and I don't like it one bit." Bobby announces. He strokes Juli's arm comfortingly and looks her in the face. "Is there anything I can do? Anything you know of that will help?" he asks with concern.  
  
Madeline placed her wrist on Juli's forehead. She frowned a bit. Juli was burning up and at the same time shivering uncontrollably. "Bobby.. best thing to do is just stay with her. We need to get fluids in her. Let her sleep a bit now, but in lets say 2 hours, we'll see about getting some fluids into her." Juli groaned again and muttered something in french. Madeline didn't know what she said, but did know that Juli's words were not very.. well polite. "Bobby.. go get the thermometer.. the one that's placed on the forehead." When Bobby bought it back, Madeline took her temperature. The small trip read 103.5  
  
Bobby sees the 'forehead thermometer' read 103.5 and frowns. He's not at all happy with the way this is going. He heads out and gets some water which he sets on her nightstand. He then makes her comfortable, or as close as he can, and whispers to her. "You just get some rest, I'll be close by if you need me"  
  
Juli spent the next day alternately shivering and throwing off blankest because she is hot. Everything that goes into her body, comes up. Bobby tries to make her feel better, but all she wants is to be left alone to be miserable. Everytime, he tries to get her to drink something, she pushes his hands away. The doctor has confirmed that she has the flu and a nasty case at that. Madeline has tried to break the fever by washing her with cool water, but all it does is nothing except annoy Juli. During this time, Juli lapses into speaking only French, her first language.  
  
Were Bobby to classify himself by any of the labels he's been given, he choose "eternal optimist." But that only goes so far when his worry overwhelms him. He slumps against the wall outside Juli's room. He mother is the first to find him there.  
  
"Bobby honey, you ok?" she asks. "No" he says, "I'm not alright. Juli's not getting any better, none of the home remedies you try help. I'm afraid that she may not get any better, that she may.." He drops his face to his knees which are pulled to his chest.  
  
Madeline took her son's face in her hand and forced him to look at her. Speaking softly but firmly, she keeps his face on hers as she speaks. "Bobby.. she has a bad case of the flu. Some people take it worse than others. Juliana apparently takes it hard. There's a lot we are going to learn about her during times like this. The fact that she's babbling in French for example leads me to believe that she learned that first as a child. Her body is fighting hard to get rid of it. You're lucky.. you don't get sick much and when you do it's over relatively fast. But Juli's had some shocks and now this is another. If the fever does not break by tonight, she will be checked into a hospital. I promise.. I'll make sure she's ok. Kay Bobby?"  
  
Bobby looks as if he's going to cry, but he doesn't. Instead he hugs his mom and sighs. The worry is still there, if lessened just a bit, and won't disappear until Juli's feeling better. Until then he's gonna help in anyway he can.  
  
Madeline held her son for a few minutes then guided him to his own room. Neither he or Juli looked really good, and she knew he would be sick himself soon if he kept it up. Bobby sat on his bed looking miserable and Madeline went to check on Juli. Her hair was stuck to her sweaty cheek and as she moved it away, Madeline noticed her face seemed slightly cooler. the thermometer showed that she was down to 102.5 now. Finally the fever was breaking. She went back into Bobby's room. "Good news.. she's down a degree, that will help her feel better."  
  
Bobby's mood seem to lift a little, but it's hard to tell since his face shows he hasn't slept any since Juli got sick. "That's good, no if her flu would just go away all together.." He yawns before he's able to finish. "Sorry about that"  
  
"Bobby. Now she will be able to actually eat which will help. Get some sleep son. She's sleeping comfortably now and I'll be making some soup for lunch. I'll make some for you too. The fever breaking is a good sign. A very good one."  
  
No further encouragement is needed as Bobby falls onto his bed and is asleep almost immediatly. Two tokens of good news, and the fact that Juli is sleeping, allows Bobby to let down his guard and rest. Madeline tucks him in and heads out of the room.  
  
Madeline smiled as she watched him sleep a moment from the doorway. walking down the hall, she saw that Juli was sound asleep as well and was not shaking or moaning any more. Heading to the kitchen, she made her own breakfast and did some light cleaning. About 3 hours later, she walked upstairs with chicken soup and sandwiches for Juli and Bobby. Also on Juli's tray was some Sprite to help her stomach. "Bobby! Are you awake?"  
  
A frowzy Bobby Drake leans against his doorway and yawns. "Yeah, yeah, I'm awake" he says, "Time to wake her?"  
  
"Come and see for yourself. " As bobby walked in he saw Juli sitting up in bed propped against the pillows. Her face still looked flushed from fever, but she was actually able to sit up and was eating the soup.  
  
His sleepiness fades and he gets the biggest grin on his face. He watches her eat her soup and keep it down. It shows that she's getting better. "How are you feeling, M'lady?" he asks in a regal accent.  
  
"Feel like hell frankly. I wanna apologize. I don make a very good patient I guess. Nevah have. I'm sorry.. yer mama tol me bout how I been behavin. Ya didn't deserve dat. Least dis don feel like it gonna come up." Juli finished the soup rather quickly and pushed the sandwich away as that still made her nauseous.  
  
Bobby moved the tray and sat down next to her. "One food at a time I guess. I can have my mom bring up some more soup if you want. And I know you were not feeling well so I'm not going to get on your case about it. You just keep getting better ok?"  
  
"Promise. I hate bein sick. You eat. You look like hell too. Hope ya ain't gettin it as well." She handed him her sandwich and took his bowl of soup. Eating most of the broth, she left the noodles for Bobby.  
  
Bobby, never being one to pass up food, eats up as well. He stops for a minute. "Since we both look like hell, that makes us look like the perfect couple, eh?" he says with a chuckle.  
  
"I guess so. Maybe people magazine do an article eh?" she leaned against his shoulder and pushed her sweaty hair off her face. She was quickly feeling better, but sticky. She needed to get new clothes anyway, but wondered how she could pay. Her budget wasn't big enough for all she needed. For now though all she wanted to do was sleep. Yawning, she closed her eyes planning on being out for just 5 minutes..  
  
Five minute turns into ten, ten to twenty, twenty to forty, pretty soon Juli is fast asleep snuggled deep into Bobby's arms. He smiles and is very reluctant to let his lady love go, but knows that she needs her sleep. He lifts her into his arms and moves the blanket out of the way. He sets her down and covers her with the blanket. He leans in and kisses her on the cheek before quietly walking out of the room.  
  
***  
  
end 


End file.
